La Salle 81, Dayton 78

2/21/2008 8:32 PM

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -Darnell Harris scored 26 points, including two huge 3-point shots in overtime, in rallying La Salle to a 81-78 victory over Dayton on Thursday night.

Rodney Green had 17 points and Yves Mekongo Mbala had 14 for La Salle (12-13, 6-5 Atlantic 10), which had lost 12 of its last 13 games against the Flyers.

Brian Roberts had 30 points and Andres Sandoval contributed 17 for Dayton (17-8, 5-7), which lost for the fifth time in a row on the road.

A 3-pointer by Roberts gave the Flyers a 78-73 lead with 53 seconds left in overtime, but Harris hit a trey. After a missed free throw by Roberts, Harris made another 3-pointer to give the Explorers a 79-78 lead with 13.5 seconds to go.

Mbala hit two foul shots with 3.9 seconds remaining, and Roberts' 3-point attempt at the buzzer hit the back of the rim.

Dayton, which hit on 20 of 30 shots after the break, led 65-58 with 3:27 left in regulation. But Green scored four straight points, and a 3-point shot by Sherman Diaz with 6.4 seconds left sent the game into overtime.

The Flyers made eight of their first 10 shots at the start of the second half to take the biggest lead of the game, 49-37. The Explorers answered with a 19-8 spurt to close to within 57-56 with 7:28 remaining in regulation.